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United States Patent | 5,617,944 |
McTaggart | April 8, 1997 |
A shuttle transfer assembly is provided for transferring parts between at least two conveyor lines. The shuttle assembly includes a base and a transfer table which is mounted to the base via a carriage assembly. A conveyor section is in turn mounted to the transfer table. The transfer table under program control is both rotated about a vertical axis and linearly displaced by the carriage assembly so that the conveyor section on the transfer table is aligned with a first selected conveyor line. A loader assembly on the transfer table selectively moves a number of parts from the first conveyor line onto the conveyor section. The transfer table is then moved so that its conveyor section is aligned with a second conveyor line. A unloader assembly then pushes the parts on the conveyor section from the transfer table and onto the second conveyor line.
Inventors: | McTaggart; Michael D. (Windsor, CA) |
Assignee: | Valiant Machine & Tool, Inc. (Windsor, CA) |
Appl. No.: | 490755 |
Filed: | June 15, 1995 |
Current U.S. Class: | 198/468.6; 198/468.1; 414/744.3; 414/749.1; 901/7 |
Intern'l Class: | B65G 017/12 |
Field of Search: | 414/744.1,744.2,744.3,749 901/7 198/346.1,468.1,468.6,369.5 |
4460081 | Jul., 1984 | Stark et al. | 198/346. |
4480738 | Nov., 1984 | Mattson | 198/346. |
4718810 | Jan., 1988 | Hoehn et al. | 198/346. |